Earthquakes in California, Japan, Mexico and elsewhere cause an enormous loss in personal property damage. Much personal property, such as fine china and collectibles, is broken when it is thrown out of its storage cabinet to break upon impact with the floor. Objects falling out of cabinets during an earthquake may act as projectiles and injure people nearby. Keeping cabinet doors closed during earthquakes is therefore desirable to protect both breakable items and people.
Another feature of earthquake resistant latches is that such doors are often child resistant. Typically, infants and toddlers are unable to open doors that require more than a simple tug or pull on the door handle to open the cabinet. Latches that require more than pulling on the handle to open the door therefore can function as child resistant latches.
Several latches designed to keep cabinet doors closed during earthquakes are now marketed. However, all have design features that interfere with ease of use. One such latch currently sold requires either a two-step or two-handed operation. First, the cabinet door is opened slightly with one hand to enable the other hand to be inserted into the cabinet. Then, while the door is held open with the first hand, the second hand disengages the door-mounted latch from the cabinet-mounted striker. Other models of earthquake resistant latches employ a clip mounted on the cabinet door that either clips around or through appropriately shaped strikers mounted within the cabinet. However, cabinet doors held shut using these latches are opened by a firm tug or pull on the cabinet's door knob, and so can be forced open from the inside by the impact of plates or other household objects being flung against the inside of the cabinet door during an earthquake.